The Moon administration says providing electricity, tap water not violating sanctions. The SK-NK mil agmt states inter-Korean road must be built by the year end & ensure "customs" in the E & W corridors. It imported NK coal many times. Do they not read the UNSCRs? #sanctionshttps://t.co/jLbqskBRd6
Trading away our national security & that of our allies for a short-term political advantage. Which it is, because Pyongyang isn't disarming. https://t.co/YYEj7uqPwL
I still can’t think of one thing the Kim regime has done to really denuclearize or even pose less of a threat to the ROK. The North Korean artillery and troops are still forward deployed on the DMZ. Why doesn’t the Moon administration at least demand they withdraw North Korean troops 50 kilometers north of the DMZ for example before considering dropping sanctions?:
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha takes an oath during a parliamentary audit of her ministry’s affairs at its headquarters in Seoul on Oct. 10, 2018. (Yonhap)
South Korea is reviewing whether to lift its sanctions against North Korea, Seoul’s top diplomat said Wednesday, amid a summit-driven reconciliatory mood.
“A review (of the issue) is under way” in consultation with other related government agencies, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers during an annual parliamentary audit of the ministry. She did not elaborate.
The Ministry of Unification, which handles inter-Korean affairs, is in charge of the issue.
Kang was responding to a question about whether the government is willing to lift the sanctions, called the May 24 Measure, imposed after the North’s deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, in 2010.
The previous conservative administration of Lee Myung-bak introduced the sanctions to prevent almost all inter-Korean ties except for humanitarian assistance.
Despite some cross-border exchanges this year, the main elements of the sanctions, such as a ban on trade and investment, remain valid, overlapping with the U.N.-led punishments of Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile programs.
Kang indicated that the government is considering the removal of the May 24 Measure largely as a symbolic step meant to help improve the Seoul-Pyongyang relations.
“It’s an important executive order. (We) have constantly reviewed it,” she pointed out. “As there are many (bilateral) sanctions overlapping the U.N. ones, it won’t necessarily mean the substantive lifting (of sanctions on the North).” [Yonhap]
The dropping of the sanctions by the ROK just further signals to other countries that it is okay to trade with North Korea. We already see various countries helping North Korea cheat on sanctions and South Korea is just giving them further reason why it is okay to cheat.
I am willing to be this is President Moon’s idea to further help reform the image of Kim Jong-un:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will invite Pope Francis to the communist nation’s capital Pyongyang, promising a “fervent welcome” during the papal visit, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.
In a briefing, presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said Kim’s invitation would be delivered to the Pope when President Moon Jae-in visits Vatican City.
Moon is expected to visit the Vatican on Oct. 17-18, part of a nine-day European tour starting Oct. 13.
“President Moon suggested that Chairman Kim meet the Pope, pointing out that he is very much interested in peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Kim told reporters. “Kim promised Moon he would give a fervent welcome to the Pope if he visited Pyongyang.” [Korea Times]
I guess we will see if the Pope is willing to be a propaganda tool for the Moon administration and the Kim regime to help reform Kim Jong-un’s image in order to help get sanctions dropped and their confederation idea implemented.
Did KJU really say "inspectors" in Korean? Are both sides using same word & definition? Will they really get to inspect & with what equipment, or just observe? "Inspections," "tour/visit" all different for NK in past. And KCNA readout different emphasis vs State: prep for summit. https://t.co/U78ioocPG5
More satire. north Korea always has to one up everyone and in this case showing off their advanced fax technology. I do not know why they have to do this with a state radio speaker in every home so they can hear directly from their dictator. https://t.co/NxWf47HbPS
President Moon is pretty repeating the North Korean, Russian, and positions on the Korean peninsula:
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said a “new order” was in the making on the Korean Peninsula, with a rapidly changing diplomatic dynamic surrounding North Korea.
Remarking on an expected visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to Russia and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s possible reciprocal visit to Pyongyang in coming weeks, Moon said a new order was being “established on the Korean Peninsula,” which he said would pave the way for setting up a new order in Northeast Asia during a cabinet meeting at the Blue House.
“Aside from the second North-U.S. summit,” he said, “North Korean leader Kim is expected to visit Russia while Xi Jinping of China is expected to make a visit to the North. A North-Japan summit is also an open possibility.
“In other words, a new order on the Korean Peninsula is being established.”
Moon went on to say that what he described as a “new order” was a must for the two Koreas to set in place a permanent peace regime and achieve the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but the “new order” Moon is likely talking about is the confederation between North and South Korea on the Kim regime’s terms. Also notice how he says the “complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula”. This is the same terms the North Koreans have been using. South Korea does not have nuclear weapons so the term can only mean ending the US nuclear umbrella protection of South Korea and thus the end of the US-ROK alliance.
It seems it is becoming clearer and clearer that this is the ultimate end game for the Moon administration.
Here is more “pretend denuclearization” from the Kim regime:
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo before their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Monday. [AFP/YONHAP]North Korean leader Kim Jong-un invited U.S. nuclear experts to verify the permanent dismantling of the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site during his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday.
The U.S. State Department reported in a statement that Kim had “invited inspectors” to visit the Punggye-ri testing site, where all of North Korea’s six underground nuclear tests took place starting from 2006, to confirm that “it has been irreversibly dismantled.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but I would hope the US Secretary of State would realize that this is not denuclearization. It has long been reported that the Punggye-ri nuclear test site is largely unusable now due to the mountain beginning to collapse. For all we know the North Koreans could have their slave labor teams busy drilling caverns into another mountain right now for a new test site.
If the Kim regime was serious about confidence building measures they would ship some nuclear material out of the country. Of course that would be real denuclearization when what they want is “pretend denuclearization“.
It looks like a second Trump-Kim summit is coming:
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, talks to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their meeting in Pyongyang, Sunday (KST). Screengrab of Pompeo’s Twitter
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hailed “progress” in discussions with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, Sunday (KST), saying the two had a “productive conversation” in taking steps toward denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
“I don’t have much to add. I would certainly tell you in private about our conversation. But we had a good productive conversation. As President Trump said there are many steps along the way and we took one of them today with another step forward. This is I think a good outcome for all of us,” Pompeo told President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae late Sunday.
Pompeo said Kim had agreed to hold a second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump “as early as possible,” adding working-level discussions between the two countries to set a date and location would take place soon.
President Moon responded that the second summit between Trump and Kim would be “decisive progress” in Pyongyang’s denuclearization process. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but my guess is that the second Trump-Kim summit will announce an end to the Korean War. The Kim regime wants the peace treaty so badly because it then challenges the legitimacy of the US military presence in South Korea. If there is peace why is USFK needed?
ROK President Moon has been saying all the right things that USFK will remain after any peace treaty is signed. Despite claims in the media that Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in want US troops to stay after any peace deal is reached, but this is just all rhetoric to prevent energizing South Korean conservatives against Moon.
Remember Moon is a very skilled politician that needs to keep the Korean right at bay and public anxiety down. If he advocated openly for a USFK withdrawal that would give the South Korean right an issue to strongly attack him with and cause much public anxiety after decades of security guarantees provided by US forces. That is why I think the Moon administration will publicly say they support USFK staying, but will then have their surrogates do things to make life difficult for USFK.
If the US government decides to withdraw USFK in the future on their own accord then the Moon administration is able to get what it ultimately wanted without getting blamed for it.
It looks like Kim Jong-un may be heading off to Russia in the near future:
Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of Russia’s Federation Council,shakes hands with Seoul’s National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong at the presidential office in Seoul on Friday. Yonhap
Pyongyang and Moscow are working to arrange an official visit to Russia for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a top Russian politician revealed Friday.
“(I) attended North Korea’s 70th foundation anniversary event on orders from President Putin,” Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of Russia’s Federation Council, told Seoul’s National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong ahead of her meeting with President Moon Jae-in. “There was a meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un. (Moscow and Pyongyang) are negotiating on the dates and location of the Chairman Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia.”
Matviyenko’s comments confirm rumors that have been circulating for some time, regarding the possibility that Kim might be planning to travel to Moscow in the near future. [Korea Herald]
You can read more at the link, but this could just be more optics to make Kim Jong-un look more like a legitimate world leader by visiting Russia. The timing of this will be interesting to see if he visits Putin before meeting with President Trump if a second Trump-Kim summit does in fact happen.
